


And Hope (Not) To Die

by felixnavidad_02



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: "Graphic Depictions Of Ruining A Cashmere Jumper", M/M, and also a lot of blood loss, but none of the warnings Actually fit, gotta love losing blood, i tagged this as "chose not to use warnings" since it's not "no warnings apply", it's actually closer to "Major Character Very Nearly Dies", just a bit of aftermath, since nobody actually dies and there's no actual depictions of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 16:12:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14855982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felixnavidad_02/pseuds/felixnavidad_02
Summary: Harry decides that this is all Kingsman’s fault, mostly because he wouldn’t be in this situation if they branched out into making bulletproof jumpers for times when agents would be conspicuous in a three-piece suit.





	And Hope (Not) To Die

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this ready for a while but I just... couldn't think of a goddamn title. In the meantime, I've lost all confidence in the quality of this fic. I hope you all enjoy this more than I do!

Harry decides that this is all Kingsman’s fault, mostly because he wouldn’t be in this situation if they branched out into making bulletproof jumpers for times when agents would be conspicuous in a three-piece suit.

Okay, well, it’s also probably his fault. He’s hesitant to blame himself, though.

This day was _meant_ to be a relatively straightforward recon mission at an art gallery thought to be a money laundering scheme, and Harry blending in as an artist looking for inspiration was crucial for him succeeding. Except, him succeeding… that didn’t exactly happen.

What _did_ happen was that he got caught poking around in a restricted area where he shouldn’t have been, his cover was blown, and he got ever-so-slightly shot. And by ever-so-slightly, he means that the bullet definitely hit some vital organ or another. It was around this point that he wished he passed the human anatomy section of his biology course.

Of course, Harry had no idea this actually happened until two minutes ago. He blames this part on the fact that he’s gotten shot so many times in his bulletproof suits that he’s used to bullets hurting like hell and then doing nothing else.

It hadn’t really dawned on him that he isn’t wearing one of said bulletproof suits until right about now. He has to say, blood pouring profusely out of an actual wound is a hell of a wake-up call. Harry winces as he shifts his arm to put pressure on it. This is definitely the worst time he could have lost contact with Merlin.

Oh, yeah. That also barely registered until now. He’s fairly sure that the source of his interrupted communication with HQ is this ominous locked black box in one of those glass cases, the kind that usually says “Break In Case Of Fire”. In theory, Harry can break that, and maybe cut some wires in the box, which should hopefully stop the interference with his glasses.

The fact that it’s there in the first place, though, at least says that this gallery is definitely more suspicious than usual. Then again, so does the fact that someone shot him. “Good news and bad news, Merlin. Good news, we were definitely right. Bad news, I ruined your favorite cashmere jumper,” Harry mutters to… well, technically nobody.

Harry realizes that this bit is the hard part of the plan, him having to actually get up, move around, and take off the pressure on the wound. Ideally, this all doesn’t kill him. Jury’s still out on whether he feels optimistic that he’ll live or if he’s just doing this to let Merlin know before he dies.

It takes a bit more effort than he’d like to be able to stand up, and it takes a lot more effort than he’d like to make his way across the room. The case breaks easy, and all it takes is a simple slash with his knife-comb to kill the wires and the interference with it. Almost too easy. Harry doesn’t think he’ll be complaining about it now, though. He leans against the wall, trying to slow his admittedly rapid breathing, and taps his glasses in an attempt to open his communication with Merlin again.

_“Galahad,”_ Merlin’s voice crackles through the earpiece, and it’s music to Harry’s ears. _“I lost you there for awhile, care to update me?”_

“I went exploring for a bit, and I ran into some issues with a little black box which interfered with the comms. Looks like we were right, and they were expecting us.” He had purposefully avoided looking down until now, but it seems about the time to do so. “I daresay we were a bit _too_ right. Sorry about the jumper.”

Merlin hisses something in Gaelic, cursing, from what Harry gathers from context clues, and then starts again with, _“Okay. I’m only going to say this once, but… what in the wide_ **_world_ ** _of fuck happened!?”_

“Well, when I was looking around, apparently I found the one place I wasn’t supposed to find. Then I got shot.”

_“And you didn’t think to leave and call for medical!? You could have warned me!”_

“In my defense, I didn’t realize it until the interference was a big problem. We really need to make bulletproof jumpers.”

_“Shock_ **_is_ ** _a… unique kind of drug. In any case, the med team is on the way right now, hang in there.”_

“Merlin, I’ve- I’ve lost a lot of blood. _A lot._ Seriously, there is a shocking amount of my blood that is not, in fact, in my body anymore, and in my experience, that’s where the blood should be. What I’m trying to say in this very roundabout way is… I don’t know if I’ll still be alive when medical gets here. And also, I’m really very sorry about the jumper. I know this one was your favorite.”

_“I think I care about you more than the goddamned jumper, Harry.”_

Harry means to say something in response to this. He doesn’t, though, because before he can open his mouth, he blacks out.

///

There is an elephant in the room, and it’s the fact that Harry doesn’t appear to be dead at the moment. It takes him a lot longer than he thinks he’d like to admit to realize this.

First, he notices a really annoying beeping, which doesn’t turn out to be an alarm clock, but is actually a heart monitor. Which, honestly, he thinks makes more sense, and he must be very off today to think otherwise.

Second, he realizes the implication of this. If there’s a heart monitor here, past experiences suggest that he’s definitely in a hospital. He’s all for past experiences not meaning correlation and all, but he highly doubts there’s a difference here. A struggle to open his eyes reveals the fact that this is the Kingsman medical wing, and he’s not going to have to pretend to be a confused civilian. (Good. He hates doing that.)

Third, Harry has a mild crisis because he actually can’t remember how the fuck he got here. So, he’s absolutely very off today. He grasps for a shred of memory, but can’t find a thing. He handles this very well. Actually, no, that’s a lie, he’s handling it terribly and is panicking.

The fourth thing he realizes, and he’s going to stop counting now, is that someone, _Merlin_ , specifically, is holding his hand, and the touch calms him down immensely. He squeezes his partner’s hand gently, shifting to look at him.

Merlin responds to this immediately, moving to brush Harry’s hair out of his face and softly kiss him on the forehead. “You’re an insufferable bastard. You know that, right?”

“Thank you, Doctor Obvious,” Harry says. “I’m assuming you remember more about what happened than I do, if you’re so concerned about me?”

“What _do_ you remember?” Merlin asks, eyebrows quirking upwards as a sort of facial punctuation.

“Very, very little. Art gallery that went south.”

“Aye. You could say that. It’d be an understatement, but you could.” Merlin closes his eyes and exhales.

“Did I almost die?” Harry asks, tentatively, and Merlin’s lack of a response is a response in its own right. “I’m sorry.”

“Just don’t do it again.”

“I swear I won’t. Cross my heart, love,” Harry smiles, innocent as he can, and leans up to kiss Merlin.


End file.
